


baby let's do it all over again

by alltears



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Bad 80's Music, Beauty and the Beast, Coming Out, First Kiss, Homophobia, Internalized Homophobia, JK ITS GREAT, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, Religion, could be read as chardee but that isn't how i wrote it, no i didnt beta this who do you think i am, weird writing style lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-28
Updated: 2018-08-28
Packaged: 2019-07-03 15:34:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15821817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alltears/pseuds/alltears
Summary: Mac McDonald was many things.He was most definitely an idiot. He was known to be a narc. Many had classified him as a beefcake, and a loser, and a player.However, Mac McDonald was decidedly not gay.Or, you know. Maybe he was.





	baby let's do it all over again

**Author's Note:**

  * For [spocksandsandals](https://archiveofourown.org/users/spocksandsandals/gifts).



> hey hey HEY folks!!!
> 
> i saw a thingy on twitter of this guy telling a story about how he got his boyfriend.... so i made a fic out of it.
> 
> this is dedicated to bee (@bxdnew on twitter) because they tweeted that this story was macden and also i love them
> 
> title is from never enough by one direction. enjoy!!

“So, selling drugs is like, cool with the big guy upstairs?”

 

“What the hell are you talking about, Charlie?”

 

“I just mean,” Charlie huffed as he attempted to open an old, weirdly-sticky folding chair. “You aren’t cool with, like, gays, and skipping church, and saying ‘oh my God’, but you  _ are  _ cool with selling drugs? And like, pedophilia and shit?”

 

Mac, who had been lounging contentedly in his metal chair since they posted up under Penn’s bleachers ten minutes prior, lifted his sunglass off of where they rested on the bridge of his nose to squint at Charlie more directly.

 

“Since when is God a pedophile?”

 

“Wh - Dude, are you serious? Since the Catholic Church started, I’m pretty sure!”

 

“That’s bullshit, dude. Who told you that?”

“Online.”

 

“Online told you that?” Mac dropped his knockoff Ray Bans to the dirt and rubbed his eyes. “Was it that Dee chick? I don’t like how she’s influencing you, man. Making you think you’re smarter than God and shit.”

 

“Whatever, man,” Charlie abandoned the chair and resolved to sit on the dew-soaked grass and worry about wet, grass-stained jeans later. “You’re just pissed that I finally have a friend other than you.”

 

Mac rolled his eyes. Charlie was right, admittedly - Ever since Charlie befriended the blonde bartender from down the street, he’d been spending way less time with his so-called “best friend”, and more time with her and her brother. Mac had other friends that he could hang out with, it’s just that they were already busy all the time or had been dead for three years (RIP, Dooley).

 

At least it seemed to be good for business, as Dee and her brother were their next clients.

 

“Is that them?” Mac held up a hand to shield the sun from his eyes, barely able to make out two figures approaching them. 

 

“Yeah, it is!” Charlie cupped his mouth and shouted towards the pair. “Yo, Dee! Over here!” He then began flapping his arms above his head as if to wave her down, and Mac, being the good best bud he was, joined him until they were standing under the bleachers with them.

 

“You two look like a bunch of assholes. Why were you doing that with your arms?” Dee said, scrunching her nose up as she took in her surroundings. “And why the hell did we have to see here? I guarantee some drunk orgies have happened under these bleachers before.”

 

“Yeah,” her brother spoke. “My apartment is a block away, we should’ve just gone there.”

 

“What, and make the apartment smell like weed? I don’t think so!” Charlie scoffed.

 

It was then that the twins appeared to notice Mac was standing two feet away from them.

 

“Who’s this beefcake?” Dee frowned.

 

“Mac, Charlie’s best friend,” he stood and extended a hand to Dee, who glanced at it warily before taking a step away from Mac. (It was a fair move. There was a large collection of Cheeto dust on his fingertips). His hand was met, however, with one much paler and more slender than his own - Mac looked up to see a set of blue eyes squinting at his.

 

“Dennis. You gonna sell me weed today, Mac?”

 

It was then that Mac realized multiple things.

 

  1. Dennis wasn’t squinting at him - His eyes were crinkled, a symptom perfectly paired with his slightly lopsided grin.
  2. Mac didn’t mind Dennis’ hand in his own.



 

“Um, sure,” Mac dropped Dennis’ hand the moment that thought crossed his mind, and wiped it on the front of his shirt. “It’s $40 a gram, but $25 since it’s your first time buying from us, and-“

 

“Or we could just share a blunt for free,” Charlie said, shuffling around in his pocket. 

 

“Charlie, we need to make money-“

 

“We’re friends, lighten up!”

 

“Yeah, Mac, lighten up,” Dennis echoed. Mac frowned, but he certainly wasn’t about to exhaust more effort stop it from happening.

 

It was all too comfortable, hanging out with them. Charlie had always been his closest friend, but Mac was shocked to find another bond that felt like his and Charlie’s - So easy-going, like nothing they said or did would matter tomorrow. Nor had he expected the connection to occur after a mere few hours of knowing them. But, laying on the wet dirt, definitely staining the back of his grey t-shirt and gazing up at Philly’s murky, light polluted sky, Mac sorta felt like maybe things happen for a reason.

 

“Other songs and artists are good, yeah,” Dennis sighed next to Mac, their shoulders pressed against each other. “I’m just saying that ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ by Rick Astley is the best song ever performed. That’s all.”

 

“Rick Astley is horseshit, Dennis,” Dee interjected for the first time in a few minutes, taking a break from trying to figure out a 23-step “secret” handshake with Charlie a couple feet away.

 

“That’s rich coming from someone who likes Jennifer Lopez,” he laughed, and Mac joined in, because Dennis laughing made him feel light and bubbly inside.

 

Save for the slapping of Dee and Charlie’s hands, the group eased back into a restful silence. Mac didn’t want to think about the plenitude of emotions he was feeling, so he reached over for the blunt that twirled in Dennis’ fingers and inhaled as best he could.

 

“You wanna head to my place for the night?” Dennis mumbled, so softly Mac wasn’t sure anyone besides himself heard it. And, one look towards Dennis beside him later, he wasn’t sure anyone else was supposed to. Mac looked away from Dennis so quickly he very well might have gotten whiplash. 

 

“No,” Mac said, but it got caught in his throat. “No, I have to be up early for… for Church tomorrow.” 

 

“What,” Dennis shrugged. “You can’t miss one day?”

 

“No, dude! That’s how you get a one-way ticket to Hell.”

 

“Oh. You’re one of  _ those _ .”

 

“What?”

 

“I’m heading out,” Dennis stood, brushing any dirt off his baby-blue shirt. “Anyone need a ride?”

 

_ Say yes, say yes,  _ Mac chanted in his head. Something about Dennis drew Mac in, and made him all doe-eyed and soft - and it seemed to be more than the pot that caused him to feel that way. 

 

“Mac and I are good. We can walk to our place, it’s only a half mile. Thanks, though,” Charlie smiled, the kind of dopey but genuine smile only Charlie can give. Dennis nodded and took Mac’s arm to help bring him back to his feet.

 

“Thanks, Dennis,” Mac mumbled. He cleared his throat. “We should do this again sometime. Soon.”

 

“Yeah, we could go to Mass together sometime!” Dee spoke.

 

“That sounds badass!” Mac beamed, before quickling realizing through Dennis’ eyebrow raise and Dee’s chuckle that she wasn’t sincere. “Oh. You were joking. Well, whatever, we can do… Whatever!”

 

“Whatever sounds great. I’ll be on AOL later. See you guys. Let’s go, Dee,” Dennis finished with a nod in Charlie and Mac’s direction and turned on his heel with his sister in tow.

 

It only took three more hangouts over the course of two weeks for Mac to call Dennis and Dee his best friends along with Charlie.

 

Four hangouts, if you include the time Dennis - just Dennis - picked Mac up -  _ just  _ Mac - to get Taco Bell at 11:00 on a school night. Mac doesn’t count that, though, because he almost passed out twice and will likely never be sure if it was a dream (nightmare?) or if it was real.

 

The mini-roadtrip was relatively uneventful at first. Dennis blasted shit gothic pop the whole way there and back which was nothing out of the ordinary - Mac was even thinking about making a mix of Dennis’ music with a few Creed songs tossed in for when Mac’s in the car with him.

 

No, it wasn’t until they were sitting, Chicago still blasting, in the Taco Bell parking lot where things went from normal to  _ whatthefuck.  _

 

“I don’t know why you play that gay goth shit, man. You ever listen to Nickleback?” 

 

Dennis stared at him for a second, eerily silent.

 

“What’s up, bro?”

 

“What do you mean “gay”, man?”

 

“I mean, it sucks. It’s pussy fem shit. Why?”

 

Dennis pushed a button on his dashboard and the car went silent.

 

“Dude, you know I’m gay, right?”

 

Mac did  _ not  _ know. Mac had been praying (yes, actually praying) he was straight, so there wouldn’t even be a possibility of…  _ Something _ .

 

“I-I thought maybe, but…”

 

“And you aren’t cool with that?”

 

_ Nope. Not cool. Jesus was very clear that it was less than cool. _

 

But then Mac looked in Dennis’ eyes and saw something he hadn’t seen before in the normally confident man. Dennis was scared. Dennis was  _ sad _ , even, and Mac wanted more than anything to see Dennis’ brow unfurrow and his eyes dry because fuck, Dennis was tearing up and looking away.

 

“No. Yes! I mean,” Mac knew he was making his stupid soft face that is usually only reserved for Monica and Chandler on  _ Friends _ , but that didn’t matter. “It’s okay, dude. I swear it.”

 

“Okay,” Dennis nodded, seemingly reassuring himself. “Okay. You’re a good friend, man.”

 

“I’m glad,” Mac smiled. Dennis met his gaze again and mirrored Mac.

 

“Why do you always look at me like that?”

 

“Like what?” Mac frowned. He knew, of course, what Dennis was referring to, but it was much easier to feign obliviousness.

 

“Like I’m worth more than…” Dennis shook his head. “Like I’m special.”

 

“Well, you are.”

 

“...Yeah?”

 

“Yeah,” Mac replied. Dennis smiled at him then, happy and sweet, and Mac felt a strong urge to backpedal. “Of course. We’re blood brothers.”

 

“We’re…” Dennis scoffed and started the engine. “It’s late. I’ll drop you off now.”

 

Two days after what Mac had mentally dubbed “The Incident”, they discovered together that  _ Beauty and the Beast  _ was a shit movie.

 

“I’m not saying that I think the Beast is  _ hot _ , I’m just saying I’d fuck him.”

 

“What’s the difference?” Charlie yelped, though it came out slurred and sleepy from where he laid on the floor with his head on Dee’s legs.

 

“Okay, okay,” Dennis slurred (from drink, not sleep). “If he wanted to have sex with me, I’d say yes. Okay? And, like, I’d be plenty into it. But I wouldn’t go out of my way to try to sleep with him. Yeah?”

 

“Oh, like my thing with Mariah Carey?” Dee asked.

 

“Exactly! At least  _ someone  _ gets it.”

 

“When you say the Beast, you mean…” Mac frowned.

 

“The hairy one, not the hot one.”

 

“Oh. Ew, dude. Ouch! Watch it!” Mac exclaimed, reaching forward to rub the spot on his ankle where Dennis pinched it. He twisted so his feet were on the floor and out of Dennis’ reach.

 

“Shut up, Mac, Charlie’s asleep,” Dee whispered (loudly).

 

“That little man is ridiculous. All he does is nap!” Mac said, whispering an apology when dee glared at him through her own tired eyes.

 

“Is it really a nap if it’s past midnight?”

 

“For pussies it is.”

 

“Hm.”

 

After another five minutes of Belle singing about something or other, Dee was asleep too, her head leaning back onto the couch.

 

“Does she have to snore so much?”

 

“Ugh,” Dennis groaned. “She’s been like this since we were kids. It was so annoying on trips and stuff. Woke up the whole airplane every time.”

 

“Then why do you still live with her?”

 

“Fuck if I know,” Dennis eyed Mac. “We should get an apartment together. Once I’m out of college, I mean.”

 

“Yeah?” Mac grinned. 

 

Mac suddenly felt something he had never felt before. An urge to be close to someone. To hug them, to hold their hand, to kiss them. Mac wanted to love Dennis. No, Mac just wanted Dennis.

 

So Mac reached out.

 

And he locked his fingers with Dennis and Dennis didn’t say a thing, but he  _ smiled _ even though he was just staring at the screen.

 

But he must have sensed Mac’s eyes on him so he did Mac a favor by looking at Mac and letting Mac look at him.

 

And then Dennis was leaning in and Mac’s brain short-circuited.

 

Because Dennis was kissing him, a  _ boy  _ was kissing him, but that didn’t matter because Dennis was everywhere and he just wanted more, more, more.

 

There wasn’t more, he realized when Dennis started to unzip his pants, because their friends were dozing on the floor beside them. Mac explained this all to Dennis quietly, and Dennis just leaned in again, much gentler and slower this time, because that was enough even though Mac wanted him all.

 

Each other would always be enough.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed these gays!!!!! comments make me love myself so shoot one my way! also shoot me a follow @findshispride on twitter! love y'all :)


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